Reviews by kmeves:

Pours a clear cream soda brown with a small tan head. Aroma is sweet dates and cherries as well as caramel. Flavor is sweet and malty initially then more fruity. Finish is more of the same smooth malt notes and a start of a winous feel. Otherwise extremely well hidden alcohol. Nice but not fantastic. Light to medium body.

More User Reviews:

4/5 rDev -3.8%look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

330ml bottle, 1/6th of the St. Bernardus 'all in one' pack available in Alberta.

This beer pours a slightly hazy, over-powdered medium amber iced tea colour, with three thick fingers of puffy, loosely foamy, and fizzy ecru head, which leaves a few swaths of splotchy lace around the glass in its long, drawn-out wake.

The carbonation is quite prevalent, but in a softly rendered, frizzante sort of way, the body a sturdy medium weight, and adequately smooth, a minor airy creaminess building as things warm. It finishes with an agreeable off-dry stab from the soused bready maltiness, the fruity and spicy yeastiness playing quietly in the background.

Most definitely a classic dubbel, in that it is less about the sweetness, and more about the balancing yeast, fruit, spice, and alcohol, all of which do their personal best to keep from becoming overbearing. Monks, they be monks, whatever their particular unimportant denomination, and they brew some pretty damned (sorry, pater!) good stuff, as evidenced here.

This was poured into a chalice. The appearance was a dark brown color with a fairly quickly dissipating slim finger’s worth of white to almost off white foamy head that just slides into oblivion. Extremely thin white lacing gracing the sides of the glass. The aroma finds some sweet glossy "iced apple" roaming into a sly clove spice and then a nice sweet bready maltiness finding itself nicely fitting it and just bringing it all together. The flavor is bready sweet with the clove slyly moving in underneath. Semi-dry bready with a sly clove-like spice hitting the aftertaste nicely. Barely any finish in this one, but somehow I seem okay with that (yeah, just seems to move super quick). On the palate, this one sat about a deep light to medium on the body with a sly sessionability to it. It wants to show some "gulping" feel to it, but the carb reads the riot act on the sweetness of the breadiness. Okay, hmmmm...yeah, I’ll just say it feels spectacular. Overall, as a Belgian Dubbel, it's very good.

L: classic dubbel brown with a mix of clarity in parts and plenty of debris/murk/cloudiness mixed in ... looks just a bit thin; shows good carbonation but doesn't push up much of a head, maybe 1/4-inch at most, foam is tan; keeps a small, tight collar

T: fruity fruit and fruit ... grapes, plums, figs and very sweet; in fact, the sweetness might be overdone, for it lacks that yeast pop some dubbels have -- that yeasty pop usually competes with the sweet but it doesn't here; at times, a bit of alcohol taste creeps in in the form of wine -- and almost a bit of a red wine mixed into the sweeter desert white wine, perhaps like a sangria

F: light ... watery for an abbey ale, but it's still good and full from the carbonation; dangerously drinkable

O: fantastic brew all-around even if it lacks a few things -- mainly that yeasty pop that I'd compare to almost a pizza crust that some dubbels have. this one doesn't, so it's very sweet and would definitely be an easy brew for the abbey ale novice to get behind (unless they hate sugar); hard not to like and WAY too easy to drink; I could chug this brew, it's so light and drinkable

Appearance: It poured with a half finger of head that quickly disappeared into a single island on the beer. The island retained exceptionally well, but that doesn't say much. The body itself is a cloudy brown with touches of red that has a healthy amount of carbonation.

Smell: Warming helps this beer's aromatics come out, but even then it's not overly complex. It has the scene of white wine with a caramel malt background that kinda wonders why it's here. I mean nothing bad to speak of here, but nothing amazing. That said, this mild flavour certainly conceals what you are in store for.

Taste: Oh dear me that is good, rich toffee malt with hints of strawberries starts off our journey as the beer calmly turns to rich figs, plums, grapes and mild butterscotch notes come in building to a crescendo with mild bitter citrus, toasted malt and a touch of apple. I know Trappist style beer and Belgian yeast is renowned for it's fruity flavour, but this one takes the cake. I'm really surprised that I didn't notice any of this stuff in the nose, but even at the end of the beer, that nose remains that same white wine and malt scent.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation is exceptionally well done but points get deducted for the lack of head. The transitioning is simply euphoric and the aftertaste is a mild caramel malt, apple blend. It does cling a little bit on the back of the tounge, but thankfully it doesn't continue to build upon itself as you drink it.

Drinkability: This stuff is dangerously easy to drink, but is a bit heavier then expected as it leaves me feeling like I ate a quick lunch. A lunch that got me wrecked mind you as it conceals it's ABV dangerously well. Completely skews any kind of dry sensations I sometimes encounter with the style which is also a bonus. Only thing keeping it from perfect is how heavy it seems to sit in my stomach.

Final Thoughts: Well after a lacklustre start, this beer pulled itself together and produced a genuinely great experience, scoring in my eyes where it counts. This is without a doubt the best St. Bernardus beer I've had thus far. It's a little heavy, but this is a beer you save for a special occasion. Two thumbs up.

Pours a deep murky brown with a awesome big fluffy head that settles into a nice creamy top leaving sheets of lace behind,brown sugar and orange marmalade dominate the aromas with some underlying sweet biscuit dough.The taste is much drier than expected,some clovey spicinessis very prevelant along with some unsweetened chocolate along with some toffee finishing pretty rather dry and abrupt.A very nice dubbel complex and not overly sweet a very good beer one to savor.

Appearance: The bottle let off a wonderful whoosh of carbonation upon opening. This was a good start. The prior 8 poured a cloudy, true brown. The lacing is perfect and lasts the entire life of the beer. Very aggressive carbonation makes this beer a real pleasure to drink.

Taste: Rich twangs of grains and dark malts pound the tounge. Somewhat nutty, light on the hops but decent enough.

Mouthfeel: As I mentioned earlier, the carbonation is just wonderful and perfectly balanced in this beer. The beer is quite sweet but the alcohol adds a necessary tang at the end followed by plenty of warming in the belly.

Drinkability: Very easy on the mind, lips, and belly. I could happily polish off a couple more little bottles like this one but will probably stick to the Strong Darks, which I prefer more then Dubbels in general.

Pours a murky, leather-looking brown color; almost fully opaque with some really tiny bits of off-colored sediment hanging in suspension and revealing the unfiltered nature of the brew. A foamy, dingy, off-white head tops the beer off and lasts for what seems like days as it leaves some gorgeous legging down the sides of the glass.

The taste begins with a nice dose of heavy, sweet grapes and juicy plums. Candied dates, sugar-coated raisins, spices, clove, cinnamon, apple skins, sweet caramel, toffee, light cocoa powder... Do you see all those things I just listed? How the fuck did I identify all of that stuff? I don't know. But it's all there. This beer is seriously complex and really quite amazing.

Phenols are present as they are in many Belgian ales, but they are pretty mild and unobtrusive here. The sweetness from the fruit and malt flavors couple perfectly with the brown and burnt sugar flavors, both of which are kept in check by the Belgian yeast and spices. Hops are far from the forefront, but still can be detected, though remain muddled, musty, and somewhat quiet. But in all honesty, they aren't missed all that much here.

This beer is an unabashed, sweet malty bomb, and an incredibly complex one at that. Some light fruitiness, toffee, and sweet sugar in the aftertaste. Even as this beer warms, it gets sweeter and sweeter without ever becoming cloying. Highly carbonated with a medium body, almost creamy, and slightly frothy. The mouth feel alone could tell you that this is a well-crafted Belgian ale.

Damn, I was definitely impressed with this one. After having the Pater 6, my hopes weren't THAT high for this one (I mean, it's just a stronger version, right?) Wrong. This beer is great, and in my opinion, severely underrated. A super-complex compound of fruit, malt, sugar, musk, hops, spices, and yeast. This is a must have for lovers of the style, and even a good choice to convert people who are hesitant.

Prior 8 appears a deep, mahogany-brown color with a pillowy, puffy, three-finger head when poured into a large snifter. The bottle was an immediate gusher. The color of the head is khaki-cream, and the scale of the lacing it leaves behind is huge- gobby, sticky, and phat.

The smell is straight sweet, bready goodness. I smell lots of candied fruit aromas- apple, raisin, plum, date, and dried cherry. The fruitiness melds with brown sugar and a light caramel influence. Some clove and pepper scents lend a spicy element, and doughy, sweet, almost cinnamon roll aromas also arise from the beer. The spicier smells really come through when the beer is agitated.

This is a very good, balanced flavor. The brown sugar taste blends seamlessly with the dark, sweet fruits and the spicy notes. There is an ever-so-slight phenolic flavor which adds an interesting twang to the overall taste. The finish is spicy, earthy, and decently drying.

Prior 8 has a solid, medium-full mouthfeel with a good creamy body in the middle of each quaff. I get a tangy feel on the tip of my tongue at the beginning and end of each sip, with a nice dryness on the sides of my tongue at the end of the sip.

This is a very good Dubbel. If anything, it might be a tad sweet and tangy, but overall I found it very tasty and satisfying.

T: first wave is velvety malt, a splash of sugar, then the dark fruits pull through, raisons, dates, followed by the green nose, apples, some nuts, maybe licorice. molasses and some dark sugars reminiscent of rum. finish just lingers and lingers, drying quite a bit while cold but as the beer warms finishes a touch sweeter. coats the whole mouth and keeps evolving.

M: Luscious, creamy, velvety, with a nice prick of the tongue and just enough chew. If it were a hint better it would be a 5.

Light head after pour. Foamed up nicely, but came down quickly. Amber/reddish color a little like cream soda. Initial smell is sweet fruit and a touch of alcohol

Taste is malty with a bit of bread on it. Some citrus on the back end and a little bit of hops. Well balanced with alcohol content. The beer is fairly fizzy like a warm soda-it foams just a little bit in the mouth. Not as smooth as it could be because of carbonation. I let it warm just a little bit and the carbonation dies down and a smoother flavor develops with a little sour apple with the alcohol on the finish.

Overall very enjoyable beer but I don't see myself drinking more than 2 in one evening.

Pours into a goblet a nice cherry color, with quite a nice head. Smells very malty, with a hint of cherry. Taste is quite the same, highly malty, with dark fruits and cherry coming through. This actually tastes a bit like cough syrup (I mean that in a good way!), including the mouthfeel.

Contrary to others, I happen to like this one more than Pater 6. Very tasty stuff here.

Light brown when poured from the bottled, but quite dark when in the glass. Nice red hues when held to the light. Voluptuous light tan head that settled down to a quarter inch and eventually a thin while leaving nice lacing behind.

Nice dark fruit flavors, some cherry, but I get a bit more raisin and fig characters. Slight phenols and alcohol notes play well with the fruity esters, a touch of leather notes too.

Flavor is again dark fruits, raisiny with a finish leaning towards a touch of prunes. Also a light roasted character at the end. Alcohol is noticable but smooth. Yeast phenolics throughout. "Brew Like a Monk" states that St. B water is high in salt, and I think that it definately has a brine edge to it.

Mouthfeel is medium bodied, slighty sweet in the finish but dries up towards the end. A bit of prickly carbonation on the tongue.

Overally a very nice beer, as was expected from St. B. Pretty easy to drink, fairly complex, everything a Belgian should be really.